Faces of Tennessee Women in STEM

1. How did you become interested in math or science while
at high school?

To be honest, I think that I became interested in both math and
science by accident. I was trying to accomplish something else (get
grades with which my parents would be satisfied , get into the
college of my choice) and doing that something else required that I
address the challenge of math and science. I really like challenges
so I quickly fell in love with algebra. Chemistry was another
matter. I was determined that I did NOT like science because, until
I took chemistry, it had all been a bunch of memorization of not
particularly relevant (to me anyway) facts. I decided that I had to
do well in chemistry and I worked very hard at it. However, it was
some time before it finally dawned on me that chemistry did not
consist of a bunch of facts, but rather a set of rules for
understanding how one part of my world worked. It was like having a
set of Tinkertoys: You could take the jumble of ideas that you had
and put them together in lots of different ways to make or
understand something new. Physics is, if anything, even more like
that. The basic building blocks of nature are there for me and I
have the rules (some of them, at any rate) for putting them
together into all kinds of things.

2. Why did you choose to work in your field?

I really love the idea that the universe works according to a
set of rules that always apply. The challenge of physics (I love
challenge, remember?) is first to find out what the rules are and
then to learn how to use them to your advantage or to learn new
things.

3. What are some areas of your job that you like the
most?

I think the thing that I like best about my job is that I can do
new things just about every day. As an experimental scientist, my
job includes designing experiments to answer questions about
nature, identifying the equipment that I need to perform those
experiments, sometimes designing and perhaps even making some of
that equipment, and doing the experiments. Experiments usually
donâ€™t work right the first time (and often not
even the tenth time!) and there is a real thrill when you finally
get past all the bugs and start getting meaningful results from an
experiment. The absolute best part is when you walk out of the lab
knowing that, for a short while at least, you know something about
the universe that NOBODY else knows. As a scientist, I enjoy
learning new things all the time. This job is only dull if you let
it be.

4. What one thing would you tell a middle or high school
girl who is considering majoring in STEM in college?

Just one thing?? Okay, this is it: Challenge yourself. Take the
most challenging math, science, English, foreign language, etc.
courses that you can handle. ALL of these will give you a good
foundation for college, EVEN the English and foreign language
classes.

5. Please provide a short biography and a photo.

Dr. Martha Riherd Weller is a professor of physics and astronomy
at Middle Tennessee State University. A true Southern girl, she was
born in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised in rural north
Florida. She received her B.A. degree in physics from Rice
University and her Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute
of Technology. Her research activities have ranged from the study
of meteorites to the interaction of ionizing radiation with
materials. She is married to a Vanderbilt engineering professor and
they have three children, two of whom are following their
parentsâ€™ footsteps into STEM professions. Dr.
Weller has had a long time interest in local public school
education, serving on the PTO of almost every school her children
attended and also serving one term on her local school board. Her
focus these days is the development of a course that emphasizes

the relationship between scientific ideas and civic issues. (Dr.
Weller is not a biologist and doesnâ€™t do
biophysics either, but she really likes this picture of herself and
the starfish, which incidentally was thrown back into the Pacific
Ocean.)